renaissance journalism

What has changed? In the 1600s England had the Moderate Intelligencer. Lancaster has the Intelligencer Journal. News went from personal letters to booklets like this one.

I'm seeing journalism change again. The inauguration came to me more as online data than as print. Television brought the event itself but little else. I wanted to check the Lowery benediction for hymn references. Think I bought the big city newspaper of record? No. Two clicks online and I had it as well as a lot of reactions to it.

Then it was back out on the street to head home and admire the Obama vendors left over from the swearing in day. That's Milton outside the burrito shop where we had lunch.

Folger: what's inside

Inside the Folger Shakespeare (see yesterday's post and link) the guide gave us a sneak peek of the reading room, off-limits to all except post-doctoral scholars with special passes. Elite. A shrine to Elizabethan England. It opens once a year on the Bard's birthday. Below the candelabra is the entrance to the theater. The long hall has the exhibits showing the very first newspapers in England. The first was printed in Holland and shipped to England.

What to learn? Readers back then wanted the same news that sells today: scandal, celebrity goings-on, gossip, etc. Folger, by the way, was not the coffee company but a Standard Oil of New Jersey mogul and his refined wife.

day trip to culture

A day trip to a cultural spot brightened up today. Milton went along as friend and co-pilot. We pulled off I-83 at Timonium, Maryland, to warm up on a misspelled "donut." We drove to DC and parked in view of the dome on East Capital and 5th Street, close to Miller's Court. The goal was the Folger Shakespeare Library. Had never heard of it. Read a review of their current exhibit. The question is: in which picture would Shakespeare feel most at home? The library in the next post.

a Delaware brunch

Delaware may be a small state, but it is the home of Vice-President Biden. Most important, it is the home of Niece Yolanda and her family (Dan, Leah, Hamilton, and baby). She set the best looking table in Delaware and maybe the world for Joanna's birthday.

Here's a quick look before we dug in, or daintily nibbled in. The centerpiece was fresh fruit on sticks. Stealing the show, too, was baby Harrison.

inauguration day

Inauguration day dawns. Shades of blue, brown, white and green preside over a hushed butterfly garden. The butterflies are gone.

school building

Here's a scan of an offset of a photo. Don't try that at home. A request for the original file is in the works. In the meantime I had to show this pic. That's Dorcas, second from left facing camera, at the Dec. 2 ribbon cutting at the dedication of the new Rutt Academic Center at Lancaster Mennonite School.

not fighting commies in 59

Not fighting but inviting. In the depth of the Cold War, this was pretty bold. This comes from the back page of today's New Era, a newspaper in Lancaster, Pa. Maurice was my uncle. The image at right is generic online to represent the era.

50 years ago...

CHURCH INVITE: Deputy Premier Anastas Mikoyan of the Soviet Union declined an invitation to attend services at the Chestnut Street Mennonite Church in Lancaster. The Soviet embassy said Mikoyan, who was visiting Washington, D.C., was simply too busy to accept the invitation, which had been issued by the Rev. Maurice Lehman, a former pastor of the church. “I believe Mikoyan should be given an opportunity to learn that Christianity is the answer to man’s needs, rather than Communism,” Lehman said. (Jan. 14 and 15, 1959)

2009 comes in cold

As the calendar changed year, Dorcas and I retreated to Grantsville. Here's 2009 blasting its way into view. Grey and wind on January 1. Drifts over the little Casselman brook. The Maryland state flag tugging the pole over the ambulance station.